THERE is no greater or 1 more solemn commission given to the ministry than that of bringing, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the promised and greatly needed revival of spiritual life and power to our people. The servant of God has told us that this is “the greatest and most urgent of all our needs. To seek this should be our first work.”—Selected Messages, vol. I, p. 121. Without it the work cannot be finished. Without it the church would be unprepared for translation. With it God will cut short His work in righteousness. O that we would delay no longer in bringing to our trusting people this deep and more truly spiritual ministry! Our people are hungry. They rightly look to us for such leadership. They are disappointed when we fail to give it. The dangers of worldly compromise, the needs of our youth in this hour of peril, solemnly challenge the ministry.

We do not need to reproduce here the many unequivocal statements of the Bible on what God intends to do for His people when the way is prepared. The promised “outpouring of the Holy Spirit,” “the latter rain,” “the loud cry,” are expressions familiar to all of us. Ever since I was a child I have heard our ministers preach and pray concerning it. I have longed that I might be privileged to share in that last glorious display of God’s power on this earth, when we are told that the scenes of Pentecost will be eclipsed. But as yet the promise of its fullness has not been fulfilled.

We have been told that “when the way is prepared for the Spirit of God, the blessing will come.”—Ibid., p. 124. Here is the key to the blessing of heaven. Here is the secret of power. Here is the explanation for our failures of the past and of the present. The entire story of the Bible is a history of revival. Read the story of that mighty revival recorded in 2 Chronicles 15. The people sinned. They became like the people around them and served other gods. God raised up His messenger and through him spoke messages of love and power. What happened? They were convicted. They put away their idols. They raised an altar to the Lord and had some great meetings. The people came from all around, even from other countries, when they saw that the Lord was with them. Make no mistake, the hunger of the soul for God is universal. When the glory of the Lord is manifested and the fire is on the altar, when sin is put away and Christ the Saviour is made Lord, the crowds will come and mighty revivals will take place.

The Men God Uses

When God finds truly humble and dedi- cated instruments who are willing to pay the price that a truly spiritual ministry demands, He has mighty weapons in His hand for the breaking down of strongholds and the establishing of His kingdom in the hearts of men. The greatest preparation for any revival must take place in the hearts of the instruments God will use. It is the preacher’s inner life that matters most, and argely determines the success or failure of any revival. It is not his education, his cul- ture, or his organizing ability, important as they may be. If he is a born-again servant of God, and has a passionate love for Christ; if he has a tender and understanding heart in his dealing with souls, and a growing love for and familiarity with the Word of God; if he is an unworldly man whom the people know comes to his task from the higher levels of fellowship and communion with God, a vitalizing power will attend his ministry. If he does not have this his ministry becomes mediocre and ineffective. Successful ministry is costly. It is a spiritual work. Find a man who will diligently cultivate his own soul and you will have an instrument of power. Otherwise, we merely preach but we do not woo. We talk, but nothing happens. We pass multitudes of resolutions, but nobody quakes. There is no vital movement toward God. The simple fact is this: when for any reason we become separated from the God we vowed to serve, we cease to become effective channels of His grace to His people. Then let the fire fall. Let the cleansing, energizing power of the Holy Spirit take possession of us. Let Jesus Christ and His will become the passion of our lives. Let self-glory vanish and the blessing will come, and the fires of true revival will be kindled in every land.

Revival Methods

During the last four years it has been my privilege to minister to thousands of our youth and our people in revival efforts in twelve cities, and in our colleges and academies in North America as well as in other lands. We give praise to our heavenly Father for what we have seen, especially among our youth. Surely one of the most heartening things that we see in all God’s work today is the response in the hearts of our young people to the call of God.

As these were youth-centered revivals, we have worked through the union and local Missionary Volunteer secretaries in preparing for and organizing the meetings. They in turn worked closely with the conference president and local pastor. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of the local pastor’s influence in the promoting of the revival. His vision, support, and participation are essential to its success and to the follow-up.

We have followed the plan of holding meetings for nine-night periods, from Friday night until the Saturday night a week later, in a center where a number of churches could combine. The organization of Friendship Teams among our young people and members at least six weeks before our meetings were to begin, has been a special feature and especially “blessed by the Lord.

Prior to our crusade in Los Angles, Desmond Cummings, the MV secretary of the Southern California Conference, followed a plan of Friendship Team participation that produced remarkable results. In the city of Chicago, three weeks before the meetings began, more than 1,100 former Seventh-day Adventists and discouraged church members were being visited by members of the Friendship Teams. In the more recent Orlando, Florida, effort there were 60 Friendship Teams contacting more than 200 former members. Many times our hearts have been blessed and stirred by the sight of scores of our consecrated teen-agers and young people bringing their needy friends to the meetings and coming forward with them when the call was made. We have had the joy of seeing hundreds of back-sliders reclaimed, sin put away, and families reunited in a new and tender relationship of love to each other and to their Lord.

The Sabbath prior to the recent Orlando, Florida, effort, was a day of fasting and prayer. The churches held all-day services of intercession for the meetings. Hundreds, both old and voung, devoted the day to prayer and heart-searching. We are told that “a revival need be expected only in an- swer to prayer/’—Ibid., p. 121. There is no substitute for prayer. Real praying involves an outlay of time and effort that flesh and blood does not like. It is a spiritual work. Let the ministers lead the people into an experience of deep heart-searching and prevailing prayer, and results must come. “Only the work accomplished with much prayer, and sanctified by the merit of Christ, will in the end prove to have been efficient for good.”—The Desire of Ages, p. 362.

I am sure that no one in Orlando who attended those prayer seasons fully realized what was going to happen. The way indeed was prepared and the blessing came. Increasing and unprecedented crowds of up to 1,500 packed the Orlando central church each night. The meetings were extended by urgent request. The presence of God was felt in a powerful way, especially in the hearts of our youth who came from Forest Lake Academy and the surrounding churches. The last Saturday night witnessed a Pentecostal season in a meeting that lasted nearly four hours. It was impossible to close it. Great and marvelous victories were won in the hearts of our youth, many of whom were in very great need. Strong men wept as they saw and felt the power of God working upon the hearts of our youth. Surely this is not the work of man. Who among us has power to convict of sin and to turn sinners to righteousness? It is God’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Let us be careful lest we take the glory that be- longs to Him, or treat lightly the work of the Holy Spirit upon human hearts.

Someone might say that we have to be careful about emotionalism. That is true, but there is a vast difference between emotionalism and godly emotion. We cannot have too little of the former and too much of the latter. A godly sorrow for sin touches the emotions. Our Saviour wept for sinners and His heart bled and was broken for a lost world. Brethren, our hearts also must bleed if we would be ministers of the saving power of Christ’s blood. Tearless hearts can never be heralds of the passion of Him who “offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears” (Heb. 5:7).

We follow the plan in most of the meet- ings of either making an altar call or of holding an after-meeting. Altar calls are made when the Spirit of conviction is markedly present. Sometimes an invitation is given for those who feel their need and who wish to stay for an after-season of prayer to come to the prayer room during the singing of the last hymn. It is in these after-services where much of the real work of the campaign is done. Here we come into a closer, more intimate contact with those who are needing help. The pastors meet with us. Decision cards are used for follow-up work. If any wish personal help the pastors take them aside right there in the church or in some anteroom for counseling and prayer. What blessed seasons, what reaching out to the Lord, what victories claimed by faith have been experienced in these after-services. During the week the pastors and local workers meet each morning for an hour of prayer, heart-searching, and Bible study. The rest of the day is given to visitation in the homes of those especially in need of help and to those in the academy and church school.

The final Saturday night is devoted to praise and testimony. These meetings have been among the most powerful and blessed of all. A distinct blessing comes to those who have found a new experience in Christ when they give expression to their faith and love in testimonies of praise. Frequently many more decisions have been secured as we have used the earnest testimony of some youth who has found Christ anew as a basis of appeals to others in the audience. We need to use the personal testimony method more than we do. There is power in it. The servant of God calls upon every youth who loves the Lord to confess Him before his fellow youth. “Tell them how you found Jesus and how blessed you have been since you gained an experience in His service. Tell them what blessing comes to you as you sit at the feet of Jesus and learn precious lessons from His word.

Tell them of the gladness and joy that there is in the Christian life. . . . This is genuine missionary work, and as it is done, many will awake as from a dream.”—Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 48.

Yes, brethren, “many will awake as from a dream.” We have seen this happen time and time again. During the final service of testimony in one recent campaign, a well- known youth who had wandered far from Christ came to the microphone and gave a broken and heartfelt testimony of his decision to turn from a life of sin and follow Christ all the way. Previously he had held back largely because of his companions. Now an appeal was made to his buddies in the audience to join him, to finish with sin and disobedience and with him confess Christ as their Saviour. More than twenty lads were soon on the platform beside him, some of whom were sobbing and under deep conviction. The personal testimony and witness of one youth did a work in the hearts of others that all the sermons of the previous week had failed to do. Scores were awakened “as from a dream.” It was a Pen- tecostal season. Hours after the meeting closed, youth tarried in the church with anxious hearts, wanting to know how to find Christ and get right with Him.

The Science of Preaching

The work of preaching and of soul win- ning, especially among youth, is a science so deep and so vast that we cry out, “Who of us, O Lord, is sufficient for these things?” I have not written of anything or told of any methods that are new to our men. What must be new among us is to be found in our hearts. If we would be God’s instru- ments, the fire must be kindled anew there. It is the atmosphere of spirituality around the preacher, the warm throb of his heart, his yearning for the souls of his people, his deep understanding of the longings, of the failures, and of the needs of his flock that gives his words power and wings them home to the hearts of his hearers. Fortunate the congregations who get such ministers.

Then, too, our great need is simplicity in presenting the love of God in Christ to our people. There is no substitute for this. “To invest the simplest truths with novelty and singularity, is to rob them of their power to win souls to Christ.”—Sons and Daugh- ters of God, p. 266. Let us shun the spectacular and the novel and hold to the simple, direct preaching of Christ and the Word. In music let us discard the superficial and the showy and hold to the grand old hymns and songs of the cross, of Zion, and of Christian experience. Many of the greatest hymns of the Christian church were born in times of mighty spiritual awakening when men’s souls were stirred to deep devotion to Christ.

If we would see sinners brought to the foot of the cross and the saints established in holy living we must preach on the great themes of the Bible. J. H. Jowett once said, “Our visions always determine the quality of our tasks.” Too often the preacher’s vision is limited because he has not, like Isaiah, seen “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up” (Isa. 6:1); consequently his sermons are inadequate for the desperate needs of his flock. Let the great themes of the love of God in Christ, repentance, forgiveness, justification, sanctification, a full salvation through Jesus Christ, and His glorious return be presented. No sentimental preaching of the gospel, no preaching merely of lofty idealism will bring healing and salvation to the people. We are warned against this type of preaching. “The Lord desired His servants today to preach the old gospel doctrine, sorrow for sin, repentance, and confession. We want old-fashioned sermons, old-fashioned customs, old- fashioned fathers and mothers in Israel. The sinner must be labored for, perseveringly, earnestly, wisely, until he shall see that he is a transgressor of God’s law, and shall exercise repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ.”— Selected Messages, vol. 2, p. 19.

This precious Advent message was born in one of the greatest revivals in history. It will close in the mightiest revival of all time. Brethren, our task is a holy one. It is an imperative one. Thousands of our youth and of our people must be brought to realize that “a mere profession of Christ is not enough to prepare one to stand the test of the Judgment” (Ellen G. White in The Review and Herald, Jan. 25, 1887), and that “only those who are clothed in the garments of His righteousness will be able to endure the glory of His presence when He shall appear with ‘power and great glory.’ “— ELLEN G. WHITE in The Review and Her- ald, July 9, 1908.

In the last message the servant of God sent to the General Conference, in 1913, she says, “I have been deeply impressed by scenes that have recently passed before me in the night season. There seemed to be a great movement—a work of revival—going forward in many places. Our people were moving into line, responding to God’s call.” —Testimonies to Ministers, p. 515. Could the scenes we are witnessing in places here and there on the earth today be a part of that greater movement, that work of revival and reformation which the servant of God foresaw forty-six years ago? This work is long overdue. The power of Pentecost is our supreme need. May we, His servants, not fail Him or His people in this last solemn hour.

Adventists’ concern for the development and indoctrination of their children provided the rationale for the work of the Education Depart-merit, the Home Commission, and many of the activities of the Sabbath School. It also led in 1907 to the formation of a special department dedicated entirely to sponsoring youth activities—the Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department. There had been sporadic and uncoor- dinated attempts at sponsoring special youth organizations ever since Luther Warren and Harry Fenner began their young people’s missionary band in Hazelton, Michigan, in 1879. Meade MacGuire had formed a similar group in Antigo, Wisconsin, in 1891.

Several years later Ellen White appealed to Adventist youth through the columns of the Signs of the Times. “Young men and young women,” she wrote, “cannot you form companies, and as soldiers of Christ, enlist in the work, putting all your tact and skill and talent into the Master’s service, that you may save souls from ruin?” Mrs. White advocated the formation of Adventist youth groups, patterned somewhat after the Christian En- deavor Societies then popular among Evangelical Protestants. Even be- fore Ellen White’s appeals were published, A. G. Daniells had learned of her concern and in 1892 organized a young people’s society in Adelaide, Australia. The next year a similar group was begun at Union College by history professor M. E. Kern. Up in the Dakotas Luther Warren, now a vigorous young evangelist, organized sunshine bands in several churches. The bands adopted “Not I” as their password, First Corinthians 10:31 as their motto, and expressed their purpose simply: “Do something for somebody every day.” Active missionary endeavor, grounded on per- sonal and group Bible study, became their hallmark.24

The first conference-wide youth organization was created at the Ohio camp meeting in 1899. The Ohio youth called themselves “Christian Volunteers.” The next year young German Adventists established a simi- lar organization. It seemed time to coordinate this work on a worldwide scale. Consequently the General Conference Committee in 1901 asked the infant Sabbath School Department to foster the development of young people’s societies and coordinate their activities. At the General Confer- ence session two years later Mrs. Plummer reported 186 active youth societies with a membership of 3478.

By 1907 the General Conference leaders recognized that the youth work had grown to the place where a special department could properly be established. Meeting in Gland, Switzerland, that spring, they created a General Conference “Young People’s Department” and invited M. E. Kern to direct it. Kern carried this responsibility for the next twenty-three years, developing a wide variety of programs to prepare Adventist youth to be active and efficient Christian witnesses.

What had been begun at Gland was organized and solidified later that year at a special Sabbath School and Young People’s convention held in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. One of the actions at this convention expanded the youth organization’s official title to “Seventh-day Adventist Young People’s Society of Missionary Volunteers.” Delegates to the Mt. Vernon

convention spelled out three major aims for the new department: the development in youth of a solid devotional life, missionary endeavor, and educational activities. In other actions they adopted an aim, motto, and pledge for the new society, recognized The Youth’s Instructor as its official magazine, called for the establishment of departments with full- time leaders in the local conferences, and provided for an annual Week of Prayer specifically for youth.25

The next several years were busy ones as Kern sought to implement the plans outlined at Mt. Vernon. One of his first projects was to prepare copy for a Morning Watch Calendar for 1908. This consisted of a special text to be the subject of a brief daily meditation and prayer period. To further the society’s educational goals, Kern chose a small group of books which all members were encouraged to read during the year. The Missionary Vol- unteer Reading Course had been born. Another educational activity con- sisted in the preparation of two special series of lessons—one in basic Bible doctrines, the other in Seventh-day Adventist history. When a member completed these and passed an examination in each area, he was awarded a special “standard of attainment” certificate. Kern also launched a special column in The Youth’s Instructor that contained suggestions for weekly Missionary Volunteer programs for local societies. In 1914 this feature was transferred to the Church Officers’ Gazette, where it continued until the MV Program Kit was begun in 1951.

The Missionary Volunteer program proved so successful that in 1909 General Conference delegates called for the development of a similar program adapted to the needs of the younger children in the church. In the next few years Junior Missionary Volunteer Societies began to appear, with their own programs, reading course, and junior level of the standard of attainment.

As the years passed, new programs were added to further the basic spiritual and educational development of the church’s youth. In 1915 the Bible Year was inaugurated. This called for reading the entire Bible through in one year’s time with approximately equal daily reading as- signments to facilitate this objective. Nor was the encouragement of missionary activities forgotten. Some society meetings were devoted to methods of personal evangelism; members were encouraged to give away or sell Adventist literature, to aid the needy by performing useful services, and to hold Bible studies with interested contacts. In Australia Missionary Volunteers raised $10,000 to purchase a mission schooner, the Melanesia; Scandinavian Missionary Volunteers sponsored a missionary to work among the Lapps of the Far North. During World War I the Missionary Volunteer Department gave special help to hundreds of Adventist young men called into millitary service, providing camp pastors to visit them and literature, including a special edition of Steps to Christ, for their devo- tional use.26

The 1920s were eventful years in a rapidly expanding program for the Junior Missionary Volunteers. In widely scattered parts of the United States interested youth leaders organized a variety of social and recrea- tional activities loosely patterned after those of the Boy and Girl Scouts. These included handicrafts, nature lore, camping, and hiking, and culmi- nated in 1922 in the development of the Junior Missionary Volunteer progressive classes. By demonstrating increasing levels of proficiency in a variety of physical, mental, spiritual, and social skills boys and girls might become progressively a Friend, Companion, and Comrade (changed after World War II to Guide). Five years later the Missionary Volunteer honors program, recognizing special proficiency in a wide variety of arts, crafts, nature study, and recreational skills, was begun.

A year earlier, in the summer of 1926, sixteen junior boys and five senior counselors participated in the first Missionary summer camp, at Town Line Lake in Michigan. The next year a camp was also conducted for the girls. For ten dollars junior boys and girls could enjoy ten days of recrea- tional and craft activities, intermixed with a variety of spiritual features. In fact, Arthur Spalding, an enthusiastic supporter of the camping plan, referred to the summer camps as “the denomination’s camp meeting expressed in terms of Junior psychology.” By the end of the decade the Missionary Volunteer Department had developed a youth leadership course that culminated in the successful participants’ being recognized as “Master Comrades” (later changed to Master Guides).

In spite of the increased emphasis on recreational and social activities, the basic goal of missionary endeavor was not forgotten. As M. E. Kern completed his long period of youth leadership in 1930, he proudly told delegates to that year’s General Conference session that approximately 24 percent of the church’s membership were Missionary Volunteers, and that this group was responsible for nearly 30 percent of the reported missionary activities of the church. 27
__________________________________________________________

With improved Sabbath Schools and the founding of Battle Creek Col-
lege in 1874 most adult Seventh-day Adventists seemed to feel that they
had adequately provided for the spiritual needs of their children and
youth. Not all youthful Adventists shared this view. In the summer of 1879
fourteen-year-old Luther Warren and seventeen-year-old Harry Fenner
of rural Hazelton, Michigan, began to discuss how they might help their
less-spiritual friends. Soon they devised the idea of a boys’ missionary
society.

The six or eight boys persuaded to attend the first meetings in Luther’s
bedroom were somewhat shy about praying, singing, and planning litera-
ture distribution together. They persisted, however, and before long some
of the girls in the church desired to join their society. Meetings were
moved into the parlor under the eye of a friendly adult. Soon activities
broadened to include picnics, taffy pulls, sleigh rides, and other social
events. But Hazelton was too far from the main centers of Adventism. The
youth society there remained a local affair. It would be another quarter of a
century before the General Conference would see the advantages of
systematically promoting organizations such as the one Warren and Fen-
ner had begun for the young people of their hometown. 22

YOU had a large attendance at your meeting last night?”
“Yes, and everyone seemed much interested.”
“I don’t know; I guess they had a curiosity to hear
a boy preach.”

This was a minister’s greeting to young John Loughbor-
ough in 1849, when at the age of seventeen he assayed to
begin preaching the message of Christ’s coming.1 Three quar-
ters of a century were to be filled with his service before the
close of his life.

His fellow workers were mostly young. James White was
twenty-one when he started out to preach the Second Advent;
Ellen Harmon White was seventeen when she began her min-
istry. John Andrews was writing and speaking for the move-
ment when he was twenty years old. Annie Smith gave her
dewy youth to the cause, and her brother Uriah was but
twenty when he joined the company at Rochester.

There was place for older men, too, men fitted by years
and experience to counsel and lead. Joseph Bates was fifty-
four when he was joined by the younger workers, and J. H.
Waggoner was in his prime. Hiram Edson was of middle age,
and so were Frederick Wheeler and R. F. Cottrell and Wash-
ington Morse. They gave weight and balance to the work;
but with all due tribute to their powers and service, it was
consecrated youth, mostly, who supplied the vision and the
drive which, under the blessing of God, expanded and pressed
forward the cause.

They came—the youth—after the first entrants, one by
one, then group by group, and companies of volunteers: Cor-
nell, Bourdeau, Kellogg, Bell, Kilgore, Lane; Adelia Patten,
Kate Lindsay, Maria Huntley, Mary Kelsey, Louisa Morton,
Nell Rankin. And after them the children of the pioneers took

117

Christ’s Last Legion

their places in the ranks: the sons of James and Ellen White,
of Joseph Waggoner, of Ezra Butler, of William and Cyrus
Famsworth, of Andrew Olsen, o£ Ambrose Spicer. Youth
filled the schools, youth took its place in the ranks, youth
caught and lifted up the standards falling from the relaxing
hands of the aged.

“It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” 2
That was written by a man who had taken up his burden in
his childhood (“Ah, Lord God! … I am a child”)3 and who
now, in his old age, an exile in Egypt, seeing his mission ap-
parently a failure, could yet calmly “hope and quietly wait
lor the salvation of the Lord.” And beyond his knowledge, he
had built a kingdom in the lives of youth; for out of Jerusa-
lem in the days of its decadence, out of the ranks of its rec-
reant princes, came the fruit of Jeremiah’s teaching and liv-
ing, in those magnificent sons of Israel—Daniel, Hananiah,
Mishael, and Azariah, to witness in the courts of Babylon, and
Ezekiel, the seer of the captivity. -There never has lacked, and
there never will lack, recrviits from the nobility of youth to
hold up on earth the banner of Almighty God.

The need of enlisting and teaching the children and youth
was not hidden to the more clear-sighted o£ the Adventist
pioneers. James White early began their instruction, estab-
lishing the paper the Youth’s Instructor and founding the
Sabbath school. Ellen G. White sought their conversion and
welfare, winning youthful champions for the cause, teaching
her own sons and counseling and instructing parents in the
education of their children. J. N. Loughborough and J. N.
Andrews, S. N. Haskell and E. W. Famsworth, G. H. Bell and
J. H. Kellogg, themselves beginning in their youth, gathered
around them and taught and inspired young men and women,
many of whom took up the work in evangelistic, educational,
and medical lines.

The Sabbath school was made a mighty instrument for
Biblical education; the Tract and Missionary Society was the
Christian training ground in service of hundreds of the chil-

The Youth Movement I 19

clren and youth: the developing educational system called into
the colleges and the academies and finally into the elementary
church schools a great proportion o£ the young in the denom-
ination. But there was yet to come a movement and an organ-
ization which would reach into every church and home, bring
the children and youth to a more vivid consciousness of their
part in the cause, furnish them with appealing objectives and
essential training, and give them an esprit de corps as the or-
ganized and purposeful and irresistible Young Guard of the
Advent Movement.

There was a lad in a little church in Michigan, in 1879..
who burned with the desire to marshal his youthful com-
panions in service for Christ. His name was Luther Warren,
his age was fourteen, and his church was Hazelton,4 serving a
country community between Flint and Lansing. His closest
friend was Harry Fenner, seventeen. One day as the two boys
were walking along the country road they talked earnestly of
the part they should play in the promotion of the last gospel
message. At last said Luther, “Harry, let’s go over the fence and
pray about it.” So they climbed the rail fence, and found a
corner where the bushes were thick; there they prayed to-
gether and consecrated themselves, and as the aftermath
planned to invite their young friends in the church to join
them.

There were nine of them only, but they were as earnest
in their Christian purpose as the Haystack students of Wil-
liamstown, who started on its way the American chariot of
foreign missions. Luther Warren’s little band of boys met
every week, prayed together, went out on errands of help to
the sick and needy, raised a little money and paid for a club
of Signs of the Times and some tracts—”Elihu on the Sab-
bath,” “The Two Laws,” “The Signs of Christ’s Coming.”
They gave these out, mailed them to selected addresses, and
carried on youthful missionary correspondence with interested
persons. They answered to the temperance campaign just then
beginning in the denomination, and joyfully signed the pledge

120 Christ’s Last Legion

against the use of alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and pork.
There was not a feature of the message that they neglected.

It was not long until the girls of the church asked to join
the society. After some discussion the boys assented to this;
and thereafter their meetings, which had been by themselVes,
were held in the parlors of homes or in the church, with one
or more older persons in attendance. So they went forward, as
they advanced in years, to varied service in the cause.5

Twelve years later another boy, then sixteen years old,
took the initiative in starting such a society. Meade MacGuire
was one of a considerable number of youth in the Antigo,
Wisconsin, church. He had never heard of a Seventh-day Ad-
ventist young people’s society, but his school friends had their
Christian Endeavor Society and their Epworth League, and
he felt that Seventh-day Adventist youth ought to be equally
favored. But when he ventured to suggest it one day, instead
of smiles he met frowns. “No, Meade,” said the older people,
“that would never do. Why should you run off by yourselves?
Young people alone will fall into disorder. Stick to the church
and the Missionary Society with the older people, and don’t
try to be independent.”

But Brother Conner, the elder of the church, a saintly old
man, placed his hand on Meade’s shoulder, and said, “My
boy, you go right ahead. You may have the church for your
meeting, and I’ll stand by you.” So the meetings were started,
and with thirty members. They sang, they studied the Scrip-
tures, they prayed, and they “gave their testimonies,” scarcely
one ever failing to speak. The critical older members, like,
critics of a long-ago time, “could find none occasion nor fault;
inasmuch as [they] were faithful, neither was there any error
nor fault found in” them. Said MacGuire in his afteryears,
“We had not the slightest disorder. I believe God restrained
the enemy because He wanted this work to go forward, and
the people were not sufficiently in favor of it to stand by us
if mistakes were made.” 6 It may be observed, however, that
God works with those who give Him undivided allegiance,

The Youth Movement 121

who have no other thought than that of serving Him and serv-
ing with Him; and when God is present disorder goes out the
window.

Messages from Mrs. White were frequently calling, not
only upon parents and leaders to provide for the conversion
and training of the young, but upon youth themselves to take
up the weapons of God and wage the vigorous warfare against
sin and evil which their forebears had waged. In December,
1892, she wrote:

” ‘We have an army of youth to-day who can do much if
they are properly directed and encouraged. . . . We want them
to act a part in well organized plans for helping other
youth.’ ” “Young men and young women, cannot you form
companies, and, as soldiers of Christ, enlist in the work, put-
ting all your tact and skill and talent into the Master’s service,
that you may save souls from ruin? Let there be companies or-
ganized, in every church to do this work. . . . Will the young-
men and young women who really love Jesus organize them-
selves as workers, not only for those who profess to be Sab-
bath keepers, but for those who are not of our faith?””

And again: “Let there be a company formed somewhat
after the plan of the Christian Endeavor order, and see what
can be done by each accountable human agent in watching
for and improving opportunities to do work for the Master.” s

The next year there appeared this instruction:

“Let young men, and women, and children .go to work in
the name of Jesus. Let them unite together upon some plan
and order of action. Cannot you form a band of workers, and
have set times to pray together and ask the Lord to give you
His grace, and put forth united action? You should consult
with men who love and fear God, and who have experience
in the work, that under the movings of the Spirit of God, you
may form plans and develop methods by which you may work
in earnest and for certain results.” 9

Her appeals began to bear fruit. In far Australia, where
she was then living, her first testimony on the subject was

122 Christ’s Last Legion

promptly acted upon by A. G. Daniells, president of the Aus-
tralian Conference, who organized a young people’s society in
Adelaide. He and other workers followed this up in .various
places in the land “down under.” Their activities coincided
with the appeals of Mrs. White for worldwide action.

In America some earnest workers were stirred to gather the
young into working companies. These youth had not been
wholly ignored before. The Tract and Missionary Society in
nearly all the local churches brought the children and young
people into their activities, and veterans today remember with
a glow of pleasure the gatherings in which as children they
look their part, in programs of the society, but more especially
in the social exercise that followed, around the long tables,
wrapping and addressing missionary literature, and at times
going out to help the needy with baskets of food and clothing.

But the messages from Mrs. White in the church’s papers
called for a special and integrated movement for and by the
young people, and various workers responded. In College
View, Nebraska, a suburb of Lincoln, in 1893, a “Young Peo-
ple’s Society of Christian Service” was organized under Prof.
M. E. Kern. On June 11, 1894, Luther Warren, grown into a
preacher, working in the North Central Stales, formed at
Alexandria, North Dakota, a young people’s society which
they called the Sunshine Band.10 This organization spread
throughout the conference, and on August 30, 1896, a conven-
tion of all the bands in the State was called at Bridgewater.
Such little nuclei were destined to become a live, galvanic
brotherhood and sisterhood ringing the world, sometimes for.
counsel and inspiration gathering in congresses of thousands
of youth, in Europe, in America, in Australia, in the Near
East and the Far East, and in the love of Christ giving their
willing and robust service to humanity and to God.

During the next seven years the movement spread, and
youth societies were formed in many conferences. The Ohio
Conference was the first to form a general organization of A ri-
ven list youth. After local initiative had instituted several so-

The Youth Movement

123

Harry Fenner and Luther Warren. Photo Taken Several Years After They Formed First Young People’s Society

cieties, in 1899, at a conference meeting in April and a camp
meeting in August, a State-wide organization of Christian Vol-
unteers was formed, and officers were elected.” When the 1901
General Conference met there had developed so strong a sen-
timent in favor of youth’s societies that this action was taken:

“We approve the movement to organize young people’s
societies for more effectual missionary service; and we recom-
mend that a committee of nine or more representative per-
sons be appointed to form a plan of organization, and report
it to this Conference for consideration.”12

The committee consisted of Luther Warren, S. M. Butler,
H. H. Burkholder, M. E. Cady, M. C. Wilcox, Mrs. S. N. Has-
kell, Mrs. L. Flora Plummer, and Estella Houser. They
brought in a report, which was accepted, that the work of the
young people be such as they had known in the Missionary
Society, that leaders especially adapted to work for the youth
he commissioned to it. that for the time the work he connected

124 Christ’s Last Legion

with the Sabbath School Department, and that a column for
young people’s work be opened in the Youth’s.Instructor.™

The Sabbath School Department, with Mrs. Plummer as
the secretary, took hold with earnestness to develop this aux-
iliary work. The Sabbath school secretary in each conference
was charged with the responsibility of fostering it. Luther
Warren was added to the department to give direction to
the youth’s work. Eloquent and consecrated, he retained
throughout his life the affection and esteem of the young
people. He was, however, more the evangelist than the ad-
ministrator.

But the work spread around the world. Already, in the
beginning, it had taken root in Australia. Germany had a
society as early as 1903, and England in 1905. The islands, east
and west, caught the inspiration, Jamaica being the first over-
seas country to send in a report. The European Latin field
responded, and Africa. Always the work was expanding.

In 1907, midterm of the first quadrennial period, it was
decided, especially for the encouragement of the “European
field, to convene a General Conference Council in Switzer-
land. This was held in May in the town of Gland. At that
council the young people’s work was a main topic. It had
. grown to such proportions that the Sabbath School Depart-
ment felt it should put the child upon its own feet. The coun-
cil, after thoroughly studying the matter, voted to create a new
agency, the Young People’s Department. It elected as chair-
man M. E. Kern, then a teacher of history in Union College,
who had taken a leading part in organizing the young peo-
ple’s work in the Middle West, and who in 1904 had been
made young people’s secretary of the Central Union. As secre-
tary of the new organization, Miss Matilda Erickson was ap-
pointed.

Only a few weeks after the Gland Council a joint Sabbath
school and young people’s convention was called at Mount
Vernon, Ohio, July 10 to 20, at which the governing princi-
ples, the methods of work, and the outstanding problems of

The Youth Movement 125

this new field of Christian activity were discussed. The council
gathered in the founding fathers of the movement, the newly
appointed leaders, the chief Genera] Conference officers, and
some of the most earnest workers for youth.”

A. G. Daniells stressed the responsibility of young people
to carry the gospel message to the uttermost parts of the earth.
W. A. Spicer brought before the eyes of the members a vivid
picture of the world waiting for the message. Frederick Griggs
recited the increased facilities at the hand of this generation
to finish God’s work. Luther. Warren recounted the early ex-
periences, and sounded, the call to prayer and consecration.
C. C. Lewis held up the perfect pattern for youth in the Lord
Jesus Christ. M. E. Kern dealt with the necessity for training
workers especially for the young people’s cause. Meade Mac-
Guire called attention to the increased strength which the
young people’s organized work was bringing to church and
conference. And O. J. Graf, in a clear, explicit, and illuminat-
ing address, presented the reasons for having a young people’s
organization, the objections some urged against it, and the
overwhelming answers.

The Mount Vernon convention proved, as Elder Daniells
predicted, to be “among the most important meetings in the
history of our cause.” From it dates the clear, keen resolve to
devote al] of youth’s strength, fire, and courage to the finish-
ing of the work of God in the earth.

The devotional and educational features of the work were
here formulated. The blessed Morning Watch has since called
the devout youth to prayer and study every morn. The Stand-
ard of Attainment contains courses in denominational history
and doctrine. The Missionary Volunteer Reading Courses,
which here saw their beginning, have put before the youth the
finest of literature—missionary, scientific, historical, cultural,
travel, and personal, experience. The soul of the movement
finds voice in the Aim, the Motto, and the Pledge.

Aim: “The Advent Message to All the World in This Gen-
eration.”

126 Christ’s Last Legion

Motto: “The Love oi Christ Constrained! Us.”
Pledge: “Loving the Lord Jesus, I promise to take an active
part in the work of the Young People’s Missionary Volunteer
Society, doing what I can to help others and to finish the work
o[ the gospel in all the world.”

One of the questions settled al the Mount Vernon conven-
tion was the definite name of the department and society. As
in the time of denominational organization, half a century
before, there were presented ideas many and names many,
each with its ardent advocates. In the end a name which it
was felt was most expressive of the purpose and character of
the organization was adopted: Young People’s Missionary Vol-
unteers. It is now usually shortened to either the first or the
last half of the phrase. And then, as riow, the theme of volun-
teering for Christ’s service was put uppermost:

There’s another task to do,
There’s a battle to renew,
And the Captain calls for yon,
Volunteers, Volunteers!

Christ before us, Christ behind,

Christ on every side! –
For the rescue of mankind

On to glory ride,

Volunteers, Volunteers, Volunteers!

The Youlli’s Instructor, then under the editorship of
Fannie Dickerson Chase, was helpful in the promotion of the
young people’s work. For six years, from 1908 on, it contained
a department devoted to the society cause. In 1914 there was
launched the Church Officers’ Gazette, to which was trans-
ferred the Young People’s Department, as also certain other
departments. This journal has since that time been the me-
dium for department instruction, society programs, and so
forth, whereas the Youth’s Instructor has continued to devote
itself to more general matters of spiritual and cultural interest
to youth.

The Youth Movement 127

The staff of the Young People’s Department in those early
years was small and heavily burdened: one chairman or secre-
tary, one assistant secretary, and one stenographer. Miss
Erickson carried most of the office work and did not a little
field work besides. She also wrote books both practical and in-
spirational, which had a great appeal to the youth. Her spir-
itual, self-effacing, earnest spirit made a great impression on
the work. Professor Kern during the first decade of his secre-
taryship was burdened with other duties also. For four years.,
from 1910 to 1914, he was president of the Foreign Mission
-Seminary (Washington Missionary .College), but he spent as
much time in the field as possible, and also did much writing.
During the 1920’s he spent most of his time in other lands—
Australia, South America, China and the Far East, India.
Africa, Europe—as the young people’s work throughout the
world developed.

A joint country-wide convention of the educational and
the Missionary Volunteer workers was held in Saint Helena.
California, in 1915, and another at Colorado Springs, Colo-
rado, in 1923, conventions fruitful in making clearer and
broader the objectives and in comparing and improving meth-
ods of training and service.

The staff was greatly increased as the years went on. The
first addition was in 1913, when Meade MacGuire was made
field secretary. Ella Iden was added as an assistant in 1915.
Notable in her service was the preparation of the Junior
Manual, in 1918. In 1924 this manual was revised and brought
up to date, including the Progressive Class plan, by Harriet:
Maxson Holt, who was appointed Junior secretary in 1920.
Henry T. Elliott, from successful conduct of the youth work
in the Lake Union, was brought in 1922 to join the General
Conference staff; when M. E. Kern became secretary of the
General Conference in 1930, Elliott was made secretary of
the Missionary Volunteer Department. When he in turn was
taken into the General Conference secretarial department in
1936, his place was filled by Alfred W. Peterson. who had given

128 Christ’s Last Legion

vigorous leadership in the youth work in various parts of the
field. He served until 1946, when he was called to be young
people’s secretary of the Australasian Division. E. W. Dunbar
then became General Missionary Volunteer secretary. Other
workers developing in the union and local conferences, a
number of whom later joined the General Conference force,
were C. A. Russell, C. Lester Bond, D. A. Ochs, F. G. Ash-
baugh, J. T. Porter, A. C. Nelson, T. E. Lucas, and L. A. Skin-
ner. Young women who served with devotion and distinction
in the central office or in the field included Emma Howell,
Julia Leland, Louise Kleuser, Olive Lindberg, and Mrs. Mar-
jorie Marsh.

The later work of the Young People’s Department in the
Senior section, and also the development of the Junior work,
will be recorded in other chapters. The great development of
many forms of service through the Young People’s Missionary
Volunteer organization will appear in the future portrayal of
the history of the church.

10 A. W. Peterson MS., “History of the Young People’s Missionary Volunteers,” p. 3. Luther Warren in Report of the Sabbath School and Toung People’s Convention at Mount Vernon, Ohio, p. 28. Warren here says that the first Sunshine Band was organized at Briagewater, September 15; and he makes the same statement in the paper Sunshine, July, 1899, published at Omaha, Nebraska, and edited by him. However, in his diary, in the midst of the record of his evangelistic meetings at Alexandria, he has this notation on June 11, 1894: “Sunshine Band, First: Dora Alien, May Hunt, May Lohmaier, and Jessie Laidlow.” And on September 15: “Organized a Sunshine Band at Bridgewater.” Diary in possession of Mrs. Luther Warren.

When Miss Annie Higgins, aged eighty- two years, mounted the rostrum for the opening of the South Pacific Youth Congress at Nunawading, Melbourne, she carried a flaming torch which was full of significance to the two thousand Adventist youth agog with anticipation.

In 1879, when Annie was only 4, two young men, Harry Fenner and Luther Warren, teenage pioneers of Hazelton, Michigan, conceived the idea of a boys’ society within their Seventh-day Adventist community. They told the Lord of their plans one day in the summer of that year, and promptly organized themselves to engage in active missionary work. There were only six or eight at their first meeting, but undaunted, they met each week for prayer, went on errands of mercy for the sick and needy, raised money to buy tracts, and carried on youthful missionary correspondence. This was the youth-inspired beginning of our mighty Missionary Volunteer army, now approaching the half million the world around.

From a tree growing in the garden where the first young people’s society met in Hazelton, was made the wooden torch held aloft by Miss Higgins, and with which Pastor Lucas declared the Congress open.

In 1893, two years before Miss Higgins entered the organized work in Victoria, Sister White, while residing in Melbourne, issued this testimony:—

“We have an army of youth today who can do much if they are properly directed and encouraged. We want our children to believe the truth. We want them to be blessed of God. We want them to act a part in well-organized plans for helping other youth. Let all be so trained that they may rightly represent the truth, giving the reason of the hope that is within them, and honouring God in any branch of the work where they are qualified to labour.” — General Conference Bulletin, January 29, 30, 1893.

As soon as Pastor A. G. Daniells heard this testimony regarding definite work for the youth, he organized a young people’s society in Adelaide, South Australia, in the same year. It was really a junior organization, the oldest member being only fifteen. The society held meetings, studied the Bible, and engaged in missionary work. It proved to be a great blessing to these young people. It helped not only to hold them, but to train them for definite service.

In 1917, Pastor Daniells, in reference to that society said, “It is a great satisfaction to me now after twenty-five years have passed to know that nearly every charter member of that band is in this message, and most of them are active workers, giving their lives to the advancement of this cause.”

In this first Australasian MV Society Miss Higgins became a charter member and was baptized by Pastor Daniells. Then for twelve years she served faithfully in clerical work, as Tract Society secretary, accountant, and teacher at Avondale.

But in 1907, just fifty years ago, the General Conference in session at Mt. Vernon, Ohio, U.S.A., declared the “Young People’s Society of Missionary Volunteers” an organized department of the church. Immediately into this new regime for the youth Miss’ Higgins stepped as MV secretary for Tasmania and New South Wales for the years 1907-21.

And now it is 1957! The Golden Anni versary year for Missionary Volunteers around the world. “Sharing the Faith of our Fathers” is its stirring theme, echoing to us the challenge brought to us at the Congress by Miss Higgins of a task well begun and waiting to be completed by the consecrated youth of today.

Shall we rise up, young people of Australia and New Zealand and stalwart young men and women of the colourful Pacific Isles, and move forward to a great new Share Your Faith campaign!

Other Golden Anniversary features for you in 1957 are:—

1. SPECIAL editions of “Messages to Young People,” “Youth’s Instructor,” and “Junior Guide.”

The beginning of the Junior Missionary Volunteer Society can be traced back to the summer of 1879. The historical spot was a country S.D.A. church at Hazelton, Michigan. The community is known today as Juddville and is located just southwest of Flint, Michigan. A few days before this first J.M.V. Society was organized, Elder Luther Warren, then a lad in his teens, and his friend Harry Fenner were talking earnestly as they walked along a country road. They conceived the idea of having a boys’ society; and before parting they climbed over a rail fence, went to a corner in the field where the bushes were thick, and told the Lord about their plans. Of this society Elder Warren says:

“There were only about six or eight of us at the first meeting, and we were some- what diffident and backward in trying to carrj’ on religious exercises together; but we tried to do things according to our ideas of order. We elected officers—a president and a secretary-treasurer. The meeting was opened with prayer and song, and we en- deavored to conform to parliamentary rules in the transaction of business.

“At our weekly meetings the work done was reported—papers and tracts given away, missionary letters written and received, and other work of like character. A temperance pledge against the use of alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, and pork -was drawn up and signed. Our collections were used to buy literature, except the small amount needed for record books and running expenses.

“A short time later someone suggested that a number of the girls desired to join us in our work, and after some discussion it was decided to invite them to unite with us in our meetings and work. After this our plans were somewhat enlarged. We held prayer and social meetings, missionary meetings, and temperance meetings, with special programs.

“The boys’ meetings were held with none of the older folks present; but after the girls joined us, the meetings were held in the open family room and were usually attended by the adults of the family where the meeting was held.”—Missionary Volunteers and Their Work, p. 10.

Missionary Volunteers And Their Work: Prepared For The Young People’s Missionary Volunteer Department of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists by MATILDA ERICKSON by Matilda Erickson (Hardcover – 1926)